Despite its name, the neighborhood of Newtown is actually the second oldest part of Rose City, being preceded only by the Center City neighborhood. (I guess that still made the name somewhat appropriate, comparatively speaking. It’s rather like the name of South Boston, which is now in the northern half of Boston but was on the southern edge in the 17th Century.) Back in 1955, Newtown lost its wealthier northern half when the residents of that area voted to split off and form a new neighborhood called Pine Village. (Pine Village does sound wealthier, doesn’t it?) Unfortunately, despite a lot of new housing and the name Newtown, the primary image that most non-residents continued to hold in their heads was that of a run-down, decrepit, falling-apart community, especially in contrast to Pine Village. That’s true to this day (1969).

Let’s see why.

First of all, as we enter the commercial district of Newtown, the first sight is the barely standing Loew’s Movie Theatre, still claiming to show the 13-year-old Ten Commandments. On the other side of Main Street is an empty lot and a small subdivided building shared by a barber shop and a Chinese restaurant, still more-or-less in business.

Next are three more establishments:

• the mysteriously named Door store, which sells pizza and related items, but not doors;
• Bob’s Hot Dogs, which sells hamburgers and sodas, but not hot dogs;
• Patriot Lighting Supply, which is thriving (amazing for Newtown) and actually does sell lighting.

Patriot isn’t the only business that’s doing well in this part of Newtown. As you see, there’s the old reliable HoJo’s, one of about 1000 in the U.S., and the efficient Fast Photo, which could develop and print your color photos in under an hour! Nevertheless, the unsightly oil stains on the old brick road merely add to Newtown’s poor reputation. Maybe Patriot Lighting Supply will do something to turn it around; they are promising to open two more branches in Rose City!

Categories: Model Railroading